green and lima beans do pretty well for me season after season.

Planted my tomato, eggplant and beet seeds last weekend. My sweet potatoes are doing great…should be close to harvest!

I've had no luck with beets the three times I tried But they were all in the spring. I had a few seeds left so I'm trying for a fall crop but this will be the last time unless they grow decent beets.

And like you I'm about to the point of giving up on tomatoes. Nine plants started every spring in January, carefully tended, planted in March, fertilized, watered, protected from bugs…and my usual total crop is about 4-6 cups of tomatoes…if I'm lucky. I adore fresh tomatoes but given the availability of sunny real estate in my yard, I'm thinking I can put it to better use.

Nine plants up north gave me a year's worth of tomatoes (canned and frozen) plus fresh tomatoes for every day for months!!! OMG I miss that.

Bea, you and me and our tomato woes! I really only want a few fresh tomatoes for sandwiches, but I can't even seem to get that anymore, so I'm giving up and buying them at the store. Not even my Everglades do as well as most people's. I just leave them for the birds now. My mockingbird loves them.

sonni1 - I've thought for years about putting up a bean "wall" in front of my windows to block the sun, but then I couldn't see my courtyard. Still, I'd love some fresh green beans. I did pretty well with the long beans last year. Only planted a few, but got a few nice handfuls, so I want to try those again this year. I really want cucumbers, so I'm going to try them, but I'm also going to plant luffa just in case the cucumber doesn't do well. Luffa seems to do great here, and while it isn't cucumber, it isn't far removed from zucchini, and is good in salads.

I just have much more luck with tropical veggies like chaya and taro with my lack of sun. Root crops seem to also like it here. I have some Jerusalem artichokes that are doing quite well, to my surprise. I'm always looking for more edibles, and I love to experiment with edible ornamentals like my perennial hibiscuses, talinum, and a few daylilies I got from a friend last year.

I do wish squash would do well for me. I miss yellow squash so much, but they just don't like it here.

Anyone have a recommendation for a good tasting hybrid tomato for S FL? I have been (foolishly) been growing just heirlooms, but I'd really like to have a good harvest this year.

sonni1 - here's a list of ones that do best.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh028

I used to live in SW FL Z10, and tried a few varieties there. I've never grown "Celebrity," but some people from up north say it does well here. I usually stuck with "Better Boy" and "Beefsteak" for my big tomatoes, and I like "Husky Cherry Red" and "Juliet" for my smaller ones. "Roma" did well, but "Amish Paste" didn't.

I never grew regular tomatoes in the ground, only in buckets, so I can't speak to that.

I've found that Sioux does very well for me. Not big tomatoes, but lots of them and a fairly constant producer. Don't think it would do well in a freeze year, though, since it likes heat more than most tomatoes do.

I also like Husky Cherry Red, and I see Tomato Growers now offers a full-size tomato developed from it, which sounds interesting:

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/HUSKY-RED-VF-HYBRID/productinfo/4526/

I'm a bit north of S FL, technically, but live out on the barrier island where it's really still zone 10. I grow hydroponically, not in the ground. Never had good luck with in-ground tomatoes when I lived in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale.

Last year I grew Celebration (not Celebrity) in big 20 gallon pots, and I planted Big Beef in the ground. It was my best tomato season EVER. I had so many that I was able to give some to the neighbors, and they loved them..... very flavorful!

My only problem is I can't remember when I set them out..... I know it was after Irma, but not sure when. They started producing Jan 3rd..... I wanted to try and get them out a little earlier this year in hopes to have them for Christmas dinner.